In this course, we shall be “traveling” through space and time to “visit” firsthand some of the remarkable features of our Universe. Our “spacecraft” will be built from our imagination, but its destinations will reflect what astronomy and physics have revealed about the nature of our Universe. We will see the Solar System from different planets, look back at the Sun from neighboring stars, and travel throughout our home Galaxy even as we prepare to embark to distant galaxies and beyond. As we travel extremely far from home, we will find that we also have to move back in time to see how the galaxies, stars, the Sun, and the Earth came about in the first place. The physical concepts that we require to understand what we see will be introduced as we go along, and some of these will be used many times during the course. Online notes will be available during the course of the term, though students may use any number of standard modern Astronomy textbooks to supplement these notes and the class lectures.

Class Format:

Lectures for this course will be provided via the course website. Nominal class times will be used as discussion periods to go over questions regarding the material, provide guidance for homework assignments, offer bonus questions, etc, and will involve real-time live (synchronous) participation. All aspects of this course will be fully compatible with remote online learning. Exams will be available to students in specified windows to be submitted via Canvas.